Darkwar Saga

About the Darkwar Saga series

Picking up plot threads from Conclave of Shadows, the Darkwar Saga returns to the Kingdom-spanning scale of Feist's earlier trilogies as Pug's magical order, the Academy at Stardock, discovers the Nighthawks -- a supposedly-destroyed assassin's guild -- are active again and serving a far more dangerous master: a would-be god seeking to break into Midkemia from another plane entirely. Tal Hawkins, Kaspar of Olasko, and a new generation of magicians and soldiers converge across the trilogy to stop an invasion that escalates from assassination plots to full interdimensional war, reuniting several characters and storylines that had been running semi-independently across the Cycle's previous trilogies.

Published between 2005 and 2008, the Darkwar Saga functions as a hinge point in the Riftwar Cycle, pulling together the Conclave of Shadows cast with Pug's magical storyline and setting up the stakes that carry through the Demonwar and Chaoswar sagas that close out the entire Cycle. It's a heavier lift for new readers than the earlier trilogies -- the payoff depends on having followed at least Conclave of Shadows and ideally more of the Cycle -- but it's essential reading for anyone following the Cycle's endgame.

How to read this series

Read in publication order: Flight of the Nighthawks, Into a Dark Realm, Wrath of a Mad God. Come to this trilogy after Conclave of Shadows at minimum -- it directly continues plot threads from Tal Hawkins' story -- and ideally after the Riftwar Saga and Serpentwar Saga too, since it reunites characters and consequences from across the wider Cycle. This is not a good entry point into Feist's work; it pays off prior reading rather than standing alone.